


travel by the stars

by xPipsqueak



Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: Airships, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Gen, Retelling, Time pieces, found family of sorts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:54:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29921322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xPipsqueak/pseuds/xPipsqueak
Summary: The kid with the hat did not mean to lose her prized treasure. Really, she honestly had no idea the infamous Mafia of Pirates would come on board her ship and demand payment for sailing on their turf. (The a Hat in Time Pirate AU no one asked for).
Relationships: Hat Kid & Bow Kid & Rumbi & Timmy (A Hat in Time)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 4





	travel by the stars

**Author's Note:**

> A Hat in Time and related characters are the property of Gears for Breakfast and are not mine. I wrote this just for fun and am not making any profits out of it. Obviously.
> 
> The cryptograms at the end of every chapter are just for fun. Plus, it makes you work for silly little spoilers or notes on the chapters. Decoding them is not important to the story so feel free to ignore them.

BHRRRRRRRRH

With a start, Hat Kid leaps out of her canopy bed upon hearing the blare of her foghorn alarm clock. While the built-in radio attachment starts playing some boring monotonous morning show, Hat Kid rubs out the rest of the sleep from her eyes. The only hazy thought on her mind is how she is surprised the horn hasn't made her deaf yet. Said foghorn had seemed like a great idea at the time, but the kid with the hat is starting to regret her choice.

While glancing at the schedule taped unevenly on the wall the kid fixes her purple top hat so it's not tilting anymore. Only a few days left, it seems, until they'd reach home. The thought of home places a fond smile on her face. Hat Kid exits in a dash, cape draping behind her as she leaves her room as messy as it was when she first woke up.

Time to start her morning chores! Hat Kid beams as she closes the decorative drawing-covered door to her captain's quarters. The main deck greets her, the remains of their last sleep party visible by the stains on the pink area rug plus the disco ball glued to the energy sails. Seems someone forgot to turn off the television, as corgi yaps emit from it. Knowing they play reruns of Corgi Quest until afternoon, she flicks the off switch.

She has never been one for lists made of notepads and papers that give you paper cuts and headaches. Oh no. Hat Kid likes to change up her mornings, spicing it up with random unplanned events. Today she starts with double-checking the monitors to make sure they're not crash landing at the moment. And as usual, everything on the advanced airship is in working order. Next on her newest mental checklist, the brunette does an inventory check.

Hat Kid bolts from one end of the airship to the other with the energy of a child on a sugar rush or someone who's drunk way too much coffee. All their machinery and extra parts are in order. The emergency button is ready to be pushed. Her stash of good chocolate is still well hidden. All ten laser guns are on display (Timmy didn't let her keep all seventy-eight she wanted). Hat Kid then runs to check on their supply of comedic props. She recently found some sort of chicken squeaky toy thing that fit right in.

\---

Meanwhile, not that far from the captain of the airship, another young girl wakes. Unlike the captain who only wore one outfit, this girl is dressed in cute cat-themed pajamas. She stretches her tired limbs then climbs out of a loft bed fit for a princess. Before getting dressed she makes her bed, rearranging all the soft animal plushies upon it. Opening up her closet, it takes her a few minutes to pick an outfit. She decides on a comfy fuzzy green jacket and a white undershirt, both with cat-themed designs. She finishes the look with a blue skirt and ties the bow in the back.

Bow Kid strikes a pose, nodding at her reflection in the mirror. Nothing wrong with looking good every day! She firmly believes it helps boost self-esteem, plus it does indeed make her feel better about the day. Flashing a bright smile she gives herself a thumbs up, content with how she looks.

The chestnut-haired girl slips her scrapbook out from under her bed, drawing a picture of her current appearance, adding heart and star stickers to the page. Right! She closes the book, finished, dust bunny from under the bed being blow into the air. Bow Kid lets out a kitten-like sneeze, rubbing her button nose afterward. 

This is the first mission of Hat Kid's that Bow has been on. She uses to get very airsick and couldn't come on board the airship for obvious reasons. This time though, Tim has lent her some medicine to help with it. And it's been even more exciting than Bow thought it would be. This has to be the best summer break ever!

She bounces with pure excitement, ready for another fun-filled day with her best friends. But first, she takes one of the gummy medicines. It only takes her a second before she's hopping out the door, going up the wooden stairs that lead up to the main deck, her destination set on the crow's nest.

Her best friend has assigned Bow Kid the job of surveillance, and she won't let her down.

Bow hums to herself as she tugs on the ropes of the ladder she was going to be climbing. Secure as always. Hat Kid is surprisingly good at tying knots. She takes a deep breath as she starts the ascend to the crow's nest. Her spyglass is heavy in her cat-shaped pocket.

The higher she rose, the quieter it became. It is a pleasant feeling, being grounded by the ship's gravity while planets and stars float around you. Bow Kid studies the closest and biggest planet insight as she climbs. Purples, yellows, and blues make up most of its colors. It's directly below the airship, yet luckily this airship is both advanced and able to resist gravitational pulls.

With one last pull upwards, Bow Kid steps onto the crow's nest, spyglass in hand. She does a slow three-sixty with it, looking for any potential dangers. No meteors or dying stars as far as she could see, only two moons that circle the planet she saw. Timmy was just being paranoid when he told her space pirates were a big thing in these galaxies, right? Cause she didn't see any sorts of ships either.

Taking a moment to just stargaze, Bow Kid places her hands upon the rails surrounding the crow's nest. Hat Kid might be getting bored of seeing stars and suns all the time, but Bow Kid doubts she will ever get enough. Bow Kid places the spyglass gently back into her pocket once satisfied, having spotted stars that made a cat-shaped constellation.

Now it was time to make her way downwards, as the others should both be awake by now. And being the only person on board who could cook, Bow Kid is required to make breakfast. She doesn't mind, of course.

\---

Below inside the engine room, a boy is sleeping with an odd book upon his head, snoring loudly. A small black and pink vacuum robot gently bumps into him again and again, making nervous beeping noises. He stirs, mumbling incoherently in his light sleep. One more nudge and the boy's lavender eyes shoot open.

The boy sits up, the book falling off him and onto the floor, momentarily forgotten. He blinks sleepily at the circular robot, squinting to try and put a name to the pixelated face. "Rumbi?" he questions, earning an affirmative chirp from the vacuum cleaner.

Timmy, the boy, runs a hand through his pointy black hair. He glances at his watch, grimacing when he notes he's slept in... Again. Purple eyes look down at the source of his sleepless nights. This stupid cursed book. His great uncle had suggested he read about his condition to try and harness his powers. To be honest, it is helping. Now he doesn't need to wear earplugs when in large crowds. Who knew being able to hear ten million thoughts at once would cause you to suffer major head pains.

Rumbi beeps, staring at the boy with a knowing look. He huffs, crossing his arms. "So what if I spend a whole night reading again. I told you, the girls cannot know about this... yet!" he almost shouts the last part, knowing the robot disproves of his secrecy.

Timmy puts on his orange jacket and skull necklace while Rumbi rolls their pixel eyes. They both know he doesn't want the girls to find out he's psychic. When fully dressed, Timmy checks the engines to make sure it's not about to explode.

The nice thing about using Time Pieces as fuel is the lack of oil and other messy fluids. Most of the airship is monitored by Hat Kid, who's self-proclaimed herself as captain. The rest of it is done by Timmy, though the ship practically runs itself thanks to all the advanced engineering they've done.

Having finished his tasks, Timmy heads for the kitchen with Rumbi trailing behind him.

\---

All three kids (or two kids and one teen) meet one another in the airship's canteen for their morning breakfast, cooked by none other than the only person on board who could use the stove without lighting everything else on fire: Bow Kid!

She wore her hand-knitted apron with her signature cat symbol stitched on it as she stood in front of the stove, hands busy with the work of making a decent meal. Today she is making them planet-shaped pancakes and present-shaped waffles.

Hat Kid and Timmy sat at the table, the former absorbed in watching her friend work while the latter stares down at his empty plate, his thoughts currently elsewhere. Bow Kid glances at her friends, offering Hat Kid a friendly wave and giggling as the brunette waved back.

"What are you making today, Bow?" the kid with the hat inquires, crossing her arms on the table and letting her head rest there. Timmy snaps out of whatever world he was in, attention now on the two girls.

"Pancakes and waffles," Bow Kid informs her friend with a smile. The timer beeps and she flips the pancakes and then quickly takes the waffles out of the iron. She doesn't want a repeat of the last time she cooked this and left the waffles in too long. Hat Kid had placed the badly burnt waffles in the microwave, saying it was their fault that it happened. Bow still felt responsible for it though, despite Hat's assurance that it wasn't her fault because clearly those waffles had been evil.

Hat Kid cheers, picking up her fork and knife and waving them up and down in the air. "I love pancakes and waffles!" she declares with a glowing grin. Timmy swipes the eating utensils from her, shooting her a warning glare that might turn into a lecture about safety if she fights it. She only shrugs, poking her plate while eyeing the soon-to-be-ready food.

Though her eyes trail back to the older boy. "Dude, where's your hat?" the brunette asks, leaning back in her purple beanbag chair. Timmy mouths her question, then places his hands upon his head, eyes wide with realization.

"I must have left it back in the engine room," he says, dropping down in his beanbag chair.

Hat Kid hums in acknowledgment, going back to her impatient plate poking. "You've been doing that an awful lot lately," she comments.

"Doing what?" he squawks, sitting up straighter.

"Forgetting your hat," the brunette rolls her eyes, not sure why he's reacting like she's uncovered his deepest darkest secret or something to that effect.

"Foods ready!" Bow Kid informs them, carefully placing a stack of pancakes and another of waffles down onto the small wooden table. Hat Kid snatches practically half of each, tearing into them with no remorse after drowning them in syrup and butter. She turns to give Bow Kid two thumbs up, sticking her tongue out to lick the syrup now covering her face.

Bow Kid giggles at her best friend's actions while taking a seat on the green beanbag chair to the left of Hat. Bow grabs a couple of pancakes and a waffle, taking small, delicate bites unlike her wolf of a friend. Timmy only takes waffles, and like Bow he eats much slower than their self-proclaimed captain.

THUMP THUD THUMP

"What was that?" Bow Kid is the first to respond to the silence that fell over the trio upon hearing the strange, loud sounds.

Hat Kid shrugs, disinterested. "Probably something Timmy forgot to do."

"Hey! I might have forgotten my hat, but I totally did check the engines! Everything is in working order," Timmy protested, jabbing a finger at the younger girl. She retaliates with a jab of her own, both glaring at each other from across the table. 

Bow Kid sits up, a worried frown crossing her face. These two were always bickering. An ache forms in her chest at the sight of them. "Guys, please stop fighting," she pleads, holding up her hands like some sort of stop sign. "Instead of blaming someone for it, why don't we go see what it is and fix it?"

"Ugh, fine. Bet it's still something hedgehog hair here forgot," Hat Kid grumbles, shooting Timmy one more look before hopping out of her chair. She doesn't wait to see his reaction, although she wants to. The brunette makes sure to stomp out of the room to show that she's annoyed.

Stupid, loud noise interrupting her breakfast. She still has one more pancake left and three waffles. Life is sooo unfair sometimes! Hat Kid wipes the rest of the syrup off her face with a lavender sleeve, huffing in audible annoyance at the sticky situation. Great, and now she needs a change of clothes. All this over something that is obviously not her fault.

\---

THUMP THUD THUMP

Oh. Hat Kid blinks in surprise at the small fishing airship parked next to them. Some big bald guy is knocking on the side of her ship, making him the culprit of the repeated noises. Well, at least it proves the sounds weren't her fault.

The brunette walks over to him slowly, wondering what some weird apron-wearing chef guy would need from them. Rumbi lets out an anxious beep, zooming slowly next to the child captain. The brunette keeps her teal eyes trained on the knocking guy, who stares back at her with a serious stare and matching frown. Hat attempts to replicate his awful expression back at him, though judging by his raised eyebrow it's not working like she had hoped it would.

Now in front of him, Hat stops her intense staring contest, tapping her foot against the wooden plank floor and waiting for the explanation. Luckily, she didn't need to wait long.

"What's this?" the large man bellows, gesturing to her beautifully built airship with the artificial gravity protecting everything on it from flying away. "Some sort of flying pirate ship? All ships, even fellow pirates, must pay toll on Mafia Island!"

Hat Kid pretends to examine her fingernails, wanting nothing more than to return to her plate of warm pancakes and buttery waffles. Is his guy for real? She glances up at him, noting he's still there, seemly trying to make himself taller by standing on top of a small crate. Honestly, nothing could make some guy who wore an apron with the words 'Kiss the cook' intimidating.

"Mafia comes to collect," he cracks his knuckles then holds out a hand, probably not for a high-five. Still not very threatening.

Without another word, Hat Kid grabs a mop and pushes the Mafia's boat away from their ship with the handle part of the mop. The ship is due for another hyperjump anyway. The brunette dusts her hands off, turning away from the apron-wearing Mafia and his fishing airship with a swoosh of her cape.

BA BOOM

Hat Kid nearly slips and falls, the ground shaking as something comes into contact with the side of the ship. What the- The brunette turns again to find the Mafia guy loading another cannonball into an icky black cannon. Before she can react properly, he fires again. Unlike the first, this cannonball sails over her head, hitting one of the most important machines on the airship: The artificial gravity creator.

Eyes wide, Hat Kid yelps as anything not tied down to the ground, including herself, starts floating away. His airship not being as advanced as theirs, the Mafia is also affected by this event. The child grabs hold of a pole, biting her lip while thinking of what to do. Looking upwards to see if there's anything she could use above, she gasps at the sight of fading starry sails.

They run on pure energy, well, the energy of the Time Pieces. So why- Something silvery zips by her, and she groans at the realization of what said item was. The vault must have opened due to the lack of gravity! And without the sails, the whole ship is going down!

With this new information, Hat Kid lets go of the pole, trying to swim through the air and grab one of the many Time Pieces flying by, mixed in with other odd objects, all of them eventually falling off the ship. She manages to catch one, though she mentally facepalms at her actions when the Time Pieces only carries her on down with it.

This has to be the worst breakfast ever.

Hat Kid can only scream in both surprise and a little bit of fear as she plummets on down. She had, unfortunately, let go of the Time Piece, though she's falling surrounded by them. With a sigh, she stops screaming and crosses her arms.

Yup. Worst breakfast ever.

\---

She sticks the landing like a pro.

With a twirl and swoosh of her cape, she strikes a pose after finally landing on something that wasn't also falling. She takes deep breaths, almost adding in a cute little bow to some invisible audience. She refrains from doing so, instead surveying her new surrounding.

Palm trees sway in the gentle breeze, the scents of sea salt and fish stuffed within the air, birds call out, and water sprays against rocks. It's all really calming, though there are also these Mafia guys everywhere. They throw in the sounds of idle chatter, punching, and even... Is that snoring?

Looking down the brick path she's on, Hat Kid notices the same Mafia goon who caused this whole mess. Unlike her, it appears he didn't make such a soft landing. She steps around him, noting he's the one snoring so whatever. The brunette isn't exactly all that worried about him.

Hat Kid looks upwards at the bright blue sky, wondering if one of her crewmates managed to keep the ship's sails on. If not, her airship is more or less crash-landed somewhere. She doesn't see it anywhere in the skies, only many hot air balloons, some kites, and the birds the brunette heard early. 

She continues down the path, hoping to find her ship or better yet the Time Pieces.

Hopefully Bow Kid, Timmy, and Rumbi are alright.

A pile of unconscious Mafia falls from a rooftop above her with a thud, making her take a step back in mild surprise. Well, that just happened. As if it couldn't get any more random, a blonde with a red hood jumps upon the pile of Mafia, wearing a smug smirk, hands on their hips.

Their yellow eyes momentarily meet Hat's teal ones, a shocked look passing over the mustached kid's face. And just as quickly as they appeared, the hooded child runs off, the only sign of their presence the rubble of Mafia they left behind.

Hat Kid blinks, standing still for a second too late. Who was that? Whoever it was, they must be angry with the Mafia guys as well. Perhaps the brunette and whoever that was could team up against them. Oh, and find her airship and missing crew!

Liking this idea, Hat Kid adjusts her top hat before taking off again. Four pairs of eyes are better than just two! She turns to the left, having thought she'd seen the hooded kid do so. Sure enough, there they stood behind two Mafia who were talking about jumping and cooking shows. The self-proclaimed captain skillfully double jumps over them, making one of them comment on how uncomfortable that made him with his body.

The mustached kid stares at the kid with the hat blankly before dashing away once again. Ugh. This takes shyness to a whole new level.

"Hey, come back!" Hat Kid calls out as she chases after the blonde, the brunette almost falling over and quickly correcting herself. The agile mustached kid doesn't stop, hopping over the outstretched leg of a Mafia goon before taking a sharp right and vanishing out of sight once more.

Unfortunately, Hat Kid trips on the Mafia's leg, the large man laughing at her expense. The brunette ignores him, picking herself off the cobblestone ground, dusting off her pants. Good thing she didn't scrape her legs, as she needed to keep running if she wanted to find the blonde again.

This town is just so weird. Hat Kid doesn't understand why the words 'In cod we trust' are used as graffiti practically on every other wall. What even was cod and why on earth were they trusting it? And what's with all the hot air balloons? Or the giant volcano in the middle of the island? And pirate ships docked at the piers? 

Hat Kid shoves those thoughts away, knowing she'd get her answers later. She swiftly skips to the right, scanning the area for the hood-wearing kid. They're there, of course. But like before, the second their eyes meet Hat's they run away.

This might take a while.

\---

So, maybe this is a bad idea.

Hat Kid has been playing cat and mouse with the mustached kid, and they were always one step ahead! It was infuriating! The brunette would have caught them already if she knew the layout as well as they did. Least, that's what Hat Kid kept telling herself as to try and convince herself.

The hooded kid now stood on top of the local clock tower, looking down at the alien brunette below. It gave Hat Kid the feeling she is being judged, and not in a good way.

"Hey, you! Down there!"

Hat Kid's eyes snap up to the mustached kid, realizing it was her who spoke those words. Now that she wasn't running, Hat Kid could see her blond twin pigtails as well as her pink and red outfit.

"Don't think I didn't see you stalking me~!" Mustache Girl says in a sing-song voice, swaying from side to side. She wore a knowing look, smirking down at the kid with the hat. Hat Kid feels heat rise to her cheeks, whoops. She literally could add stalking to the list of less than legal activities she'd participated in.

"Us kids should stick together, not stalk one another," the blonde adds, chuckling at her last four words. "I mean, Mafia Island can be a pretty dangerous place."

Hat Kid shrugged, honestly hardly believing that. Sure, the Mafia goons were big meanies, but she could handle them. Especially if she had her trusty umbrella. Her sword with laser beam attachments and working umbrella had unfortunately fallen with the Time Pieces though.

"Say, did you have anything to do with all that space junk that landed here?" Mustache Girl asks. Hat Kid lights up, happy she didn't need to ask for help, as it seems the hooded girl was offering it. The brunette nods. "Wow. You got some major cleaning up to do~ If you come up here, I can show you where some of your junk landed!"

Alright. That seems easy enough. Hat Kid taps a foot against the stony ground, looking around for ways upwards. There is a crane nearby as well as a large yellow button. She bites her lip in thought, wanting to satisfy her urge to push the button over climbing up the side of big heavy machinery.

So she does. And hey, that button controls the crane. Who knew.

Jumping up onto the crates the crane held within its grasp, ignoring how they creak upon each step, Hat Kid leaps up to the tower. She refrains from striking a victory pose, instead offering Mustache Girl a smug look.

"Good job, kid! I like you. What's your name?" the hooded girl inquires after giving Hat Kid a small applause for her stunts.

Names were never something Hat Kid liked sharing. Honestly, she didn't really have a real name. Captain Hat Kid is just a title more than a name. So, she remains perfectly silent. Mustache Girl raises a brow at her, waiting a few more seconds before shrugging.

"Okay then, mysterious kid. I'm Mou-Girl. But most refer to me as Mu, leader of the rebellion!" She introduces herself with much enthusiasm, smiling like those heroes Hat Kid sees in comics with the perfect teeth and sparkles.

"These jerk-face pirates stole this island and as leader of the rebellion, it's my job to steal it back!" she both explains and brags about her position, leaning against one of the tower pillars. "If you help me take down the Mafia of Pirates, I'll help you get your junk back."

It only takes Hat Kid a moment to choose to trust Mou-Girl's words. She nods, giving the blonde a thumbs up.

"Awesome!" Mu grins. "Then let's roll, rebel squad! I saw a few of your possessions by the fountain, so let's start there and kick some Pirate butt!" She gestures animatedly throughout her speech, ending with a fist slamming down on the palm of her other hand.

Despite how odd this Mou-Girl is, Hat Kid doesn't regret putting trust in her.

\---

The two girls reach a part of the island that's surrounded by various food courts. Why a Mafia of Pirates even needs one food court is beyond Hat Kid. There's also a fireworks dispenser and, of course, the fountain Mu spoke of. 

And standing next to the fountain is a Mafia goon holding one of her Time Pieces!

"Think you can take him?" Mu whispers, which is still rather loud. Quiet isn't something Hat thinks her mustached friend is capable of. Spotting her trusty umbrella laying abandoned on the hard ground, Hat Kid smirks. She's got this in the bag. Hat Kid gives a thumbs up to the blonde, who grins back at her.

"Have fun then! I'm going to go over there," she points to two Mafia goons who're eating at one of the circular tables by a spicy smelling shop, "And leave the oven of that store on. Their buns will be so spicy they'll have to close up shop!" She rubs her hands together mischievously, chuckling at the thought of ruining something of the Pirates.

And then Mou-Girl vanishes, running off to put her plan into motion.

Hat Kid picks her blue umbrella off the ground, smiling down at the yellow star pattern Bow had added to it. She sighs at the thought of her missing friends. Now isn't the time to think about them, though. Now is the time to take back her stuff and find her airship! For all she knew, her crewmates were back there.

"Hey!" she shouts at the Mafia who's got her Time Piece. She points to the shiny hourglass then at herself, hoping the message was clear. He laughs, holding her Time Piece up higher and sticking out his tongue. Rude. Pressing the hidden button on the umbrella, she points just to the side of the pirate, a smirk present on her freckled face. This would be amusing.

With another press of the same button, a giant pink beam just misses the Mafia goon. A loud bang follows suit, leaving the pirate stunned and wide-eyed, mouth gaping open. The fountain on the other hand is seen better days, cracked and crashed, pieces of it scattering as the water pours out. Hat slowly walks up to him, poking his side with the pointy end of the blue umbrella.

With a scream more girly than usual for someone with such a deep voice, he runs away, tossing the Time Piece behind him. Hat Kid catches it, placing it gently in her pocket. One down, the uh, rest to go!

The scene would have looked rather humorous to onlookers. A grown man with more muscles than brains running from a small, little kid with an umbrella for a weapon.

Hat Kid dusts off her hands, walking away from the destruction she caused. That fountain looked tacky anyway.

\---

"Hey, kid! So, how'd it go?" Mu greeted Hat Kid.

After her encounter and victory with the Mafia goon, Hat had made her way to the back of the restaurant Mu was sabotaging. She waited outside the back door, listening to the sounds of pots and pans clacking together and the roar of flames. Spices filled her nose, making her sneeze more than once while she waited. After a rather noisy beeping sound, Mou-Girl exited via the backdoor.

And now she'd greeted Hat Kid.

Instead of replying to the question, Hat Kid took the Time Piece momentarily out of her pocket to show Mu.

"Nice! I'm glad I recruited you," the blonde pats Hat Kid on the back rather roughly, earning a frown from the brunette. "Say, I plan on causing some more chaos tomorrow. Interested in joining? We might find more of your space stuff," Mu says, smiling in a way that made it hard to say no.

"Sure, why not," Hat Kid replies, a smile of her own crossing over her face.

"Wow! She speaks!" Mu chuckles, poking Hat Kid's side and earning a giggle from the hatted child. The two girls stand there in a pleasant silence afterward. Sounds of the chaotic fire Mu caused raging behind them as the sunset paints the sky in front of them. Pastel pinks, oranges, and yellows make the air balloons look as if they're glowing.

"It's nice to have another teen around here," Mu comments softly, glancing at the purple and yellow-clothed girl. Hat Kid freezes, giving Mou-Girl a confused look.

"I'm twelve," Hat Kid says bluntly, wondering what else she assumed wrong about the mustached teen.

"I'm a year older than you! Ha!" Mou-Girl grins triumphantly. "You're almost a teen though, so my statement before is still valid."

More silence falls over them. The wind blowing gently, the breeze feeling nice against their skin. Doors slam shut around them, birds squawking in surprise. The Pirates must be heading to bed or something, as the sounds of punching stop. Hat Kid stifles a yawn, leaning against the building behind them. Mu squints, leaning forward. "Say, is that something of yours too?"

She points to something wooden that's floating helplessly against the waves of the water, stuck between two rocks. It's not that far out at sea, but far enough one would have to swim to reach it. The sails are completely faded, the only objects present on the deck being tied down, and something small and black is zips back and forth across the planks.

"My airship!" Hat Kid gasps, running down to the beach without waiting for Mu. She can hear more than just her footsteps, meaning the blonde wasn't far behind. Not caring about getting a little wet, Hat Kid leaps into the waters, a bit surprised at how pleasantly warm it is.

Hopefully Timmy, Bow Kid, and Rumbi were safely onboard.

\---

"Rumbi!" Hat Kid cries out as she scoops the vacuum robot into her arms, hugging them tightly. Rumbi chirps, pixel eyes closing in contentment.

Hat Kid thought she'd seen the little robot roaming the main deck, and she'd thought right. Sadly, there is no sign of Timmy or Bow Kid. So, she voices her question to the robot, hoping for the best.

Rumbi beeps sadly, eyes changing to unhappy ones. "It's okay, we'll find them," Hat Kid promises more to herself than the robot. She looks around the remains of her airship, letting out a sigh. She did have a lot of cleaning up to do.

"Nice place you got here," Mu comments with a whistle as she looks around Hat Kid's airship with her yellow eyes, reminding the top hat-wearing kid of her presence.

"It is a nice place," she says quietly, letting out a sigh. Maybe Mu would be willing to help with pickup. No, she'd already helped Hat Kid find a Time Piece and offered to help her find more. This was her ship, and she would clean it herself!

"Well, I got some midnight chaos to cause. I'll see you here tomorrow as soon as the sun rises?" The hooded girl starts walking to the exit, still keeping eye contact with Hat Kid. Like she did before, the self-proclaimed captain gives her a thumb up as a reply.

Once Mu is out of sight, Hat Kid heads down to the engine room with Rumbi guiding her as a flashlight as the power was off due to there being nothing to power it with. The brunette couldn't help expecting to see Timmy reading one of those weird books he keeps trying to hide from them. But he's not there, just like how Bow Kid wasn't at her side. Finding that the vault in which the Time Pieces were enclosed was indeed, open, Hat Kid sighed. She carefully put the Time Piece she'd retrieved inside, then slammed the door shut. She'd fix the artificial gravity later, right now she just needed some power for the heating and lights.

There was only enough power to do one room, so she picked the kitchen to start with. Luckily for her, the pancake and waffles were still there. Nice.

Sadly, they were now very cold. So, into the microwave they went!

\---

Lavender eyes flew open and see nothing but blurry white space, yellowish lights blinding her and appearing to come from various angles. Blinking a few more times, her vision clears. A white tile ceiling greets here along with the yellow glows of the ceiling lights. The ship is mostly wooden though, and that doesn't look wooden at all.

Sitting up, she finds herself laying in a tidy bed, free of any toy animals. Where is playful kitty? Or grumpy toad? Or Alan the corgi?

She covers her mouth with a hand, not wanting to scream in case someone is there. This isn't her bed! Where is she? The girl looks around the room, finding its way to clean to be anywhere on the airship. A small but professional kitchen set up sits in the left corner as to the right there's a small table with a few photographs on it, most pictures looking to be of the owner's cats in cute little outfits.

Besides the rug and a few shelves, the bed is the only other object in the small room. Honestly, the child liked it, but still, this isn't her home. And who knew who actually lived here!

She gasps, hearing the small pitter-patter of footsteps coming closer. The kid shakes, hiding underneath the blankets. Maybe they won't notice her?

"Dear, are you awake yet? I brought you some soup," says the person who walked in through the door. They closed it as quietly as they could, stepping over to the bed and placing something, more or less the soup, on the table to the kid's right.

She slowly rises, taking a peek at the motherly voice to find a human-like cat standing there, dressed in a chefs outfit. The sight shocks the child, an urge to pet the cat-like person strong but she resists. The cat person stares at the child in surprise, tail puffing like an actual cat.

Maybe this is just some kind of weird dream she'll soon wake up from. Yeah. The kid has dreams like this all the time! With the human-like cats. Pinching herself always wakes her up, much like her own dream version of coffee.

...Why doesn't pinching her arm wake her up?

\---

Okay, maybe he had been wrong.

For the airship to come to a stop and fall like it had could only mean he had forgotten something super important down there in the engine room. Great. More proof that the girls didn't need him on their crew. Sure, he enjoyed the travels, but only went to please Captain Timely Tim, his great uncle.

He never signed up for being stranded on some island inhabited by the large and powerful Mafia of Pirates.

After waking up, the boy found shelter in a hidden cave. He'd been pacing back and forth, thinking of what to do now. The airship must have crash-landed somewhere on this very island, but where? Worse yet, the girls were missing. Hopefully they landed somewhere close by.

How to find them, though? Reading minds was out of the question and so was trying to feel for their auras. All his books were back on the ship. He didn't want to accidentally cause something he couldn't fix. He needed those books in order to use his abilities safely!

Gazing up at the moon so high, he sighed. He needed to get some shut-eye or else he'd be too sleep deprived to function tomorrow.

"Don't worry girls. I'm coming."

\---

And that's a wrap for the first part of chapter one! Wow, this chapter ended up longer than I originally planned.

In case you were wondering, Hat Kid is twelve, Bow Kid is eleven, Timmy is fifteen, and Mustache Girl is thirteen.

I don't plan on having any romantic pairing in this story, though I do ship Timmy x Mustache Girl and The Conductor x Cooking Cat. I might accidentally slip in some romantic moments. I'm going to try and keep everything between everyone strictly platonic though! I'll let you readers know if I change my mind.

Nxgrv wr brx! Brx xqfryhuhg d foxh!  
Qrergb glhv exw wkh pdq zlwk wkuhh hbhv.


End file.
